The machine, which could supposedly vend vixens as one might vend soda or candy, took one penny (a unit of MUCK currency). The user was then supposed to select one of the buttons on the machine and push it. The machine "vended" a vixen by changing the user into one for a short period of time. The machine failed to work if the user was already a vixen, though sometimes it would fail for no reason at all, a feature meant to frustrate the hapless.

The Vixen Vending Machine became famous (or infamous) when its creator left it sitting out in the West Corner of The Park, and then logged out for the night. No one bothered to sweep the object back home. Instead, furries kept having fun using it (and spamming the park with its use and transformation messages) well into the night and into the next day.

Jim Groat, creator of the West Corner of The Park comic strip, was alerted to this gag device by Sean Malloy. He has since used it as a basis for an ongoing gag in his strip. His version is different, however. If the user is a fox, then the machine attacks the victim, through any of a number of methods. The Vixen Vending Machine caught the attention of other furry artists, including Conna Stevenson of Yerf, who drew a small comic about it.